As some of you may know, I love Doctor Who.
I also love video games.
Because of these two things I feel well positioned to comment on fan reaction when the release of something they love is staggered from country to country.
Now, I don’t know how many of you go on “teh forumz” to talk about your favourite show, but I’ve made a few exploratory passes through the worlds of Gallifrey Base and Doctor Who Online in my day and I think what strikes me the most about them is just how important these discussion boards are to people. People who are fans of Doctor Who can and will log on every day to talk/argue/go ballistic about the show they love. Not only that, but forums are where life-long friendships are formed, meet-ups founded or podcasts created. In short they are the ultimate form of “pub”; one where the punters are united by what they have in common as opposed to where they live.
So when the transmission of an episode of Doctor Who (or BSG or 30 Rock) in the States is at any time other than the exact same time as its transmission in the UK, then that show (or game or film or book) is actively forbidding friends from talking.
We’ve all seen it, the Twitterers who scream “No spoilers! I haven’t watched it yet!” five minutes after a mind-blowing twist has been revealed. And sure we all laugh and say “Silly you, a social network isn’t going to stop talking about event TV just for you!” but until that person has seen whatever it is they’re a fan of then no, they can’t go on any social network until they have. Or read the blogs they usually visit. Or listen to the podcasts they subscribe to.
And if you don’t make that product available to those people simultaneously, then they pirate it.
Because what else can they do? If you run a Torchwood podcast and half of your hosts are in America and half of the hosts are in the UK then should you simply NOT cover this week’s episode because the guys in the UK are a week behind for the entire series?
Of course not. And that’s why it used to be hugely difficult to gauge Doctor Who’s popularity in America, because the viewership for the American transmission of the show a week after the UK broadcast was likely to be made up either of non-fans who happen to find it, or fans who were dedicated enough to not only want to watch that episode again, but to also support the viewing figures for the show because they understand that that’s how its popularity is gauged. Simultaneous(-ish) transmission is an issue that Doctor Who’s most recent series has succeeded in rectifying admirably (along with the help of iTunes for an extra special sprinkling of convenience), and hopefully it will pay off not only for the show but also for the fans as their demand for merchandise, books or simply more Doctor Who is able to be more accurately measured.
And this is something a lot of games, movies or anything else that has a cult following could learn from. I mean, the new Muppets movie has just come out over here in the UK, but if I were a die-hard fan of the Muppets, why would I go and see it now when I’ve been able to watch it via a link on Youtube since *googles* the 2nd of November 2011. In HD.
Part of the joy of being a fan is being able to talk about what you love with people similarly impassioned, and it’s inevitable that the value of that ability is eventually going to outweigh the ‘duty’ of a fan to support their favourite product.
When that happens it’s the product’s responsibility to make being a fan as easy as possible, because piracy will always be there to fill in the gap.
